Ceylon Today Editorial

PREYING ON THE INNOCENT 

Friday 20th November 2015

The modern world, if given the opportunity, will boast on how it has left behind the bestial natured concepts such as slavery and has come to be what it is today. Albeit, the truth is that slavery exists. Modern day slavery has become exclusive to the girl, the sister, the aunt and the mother; basically the modern world's slave is the female sex worker who has to sell her body to earn a frugal living to survive.

Recently, the police raided a brothel in the Gampola area and unravelled a criminal cartel that obtained girls for prostitution from children's homes which are under the Probation and Child Care Services Department. Investigators, who raided the brothel several times in the past, always found that the sex workers there were below 20 years. The police in a bid to find out how the brothel owner managed to have a continuous supply of women aged below 20 launched a separate investigation into the matter.

Startling the investigators, it was uncovered that the brothel owners had a network of persons who had paid visits to probation homes around the country and became legal guardians of the girls who turned 18 who were forced into prostitution.

The underage girls, found guilty of various offences or victims of sexual abuse without parents or guardians, are directed to the probation homes by the Courts. These girls, who become legal adults after turning 18, are taken under the wing of the manager of the brothel with the knowledge of the officers of the probation homes. These uncouth guardians charge Rs 3,000 per visit from a client using the girls and are paid Rs 1,000 as a commission. One such girl who was arrested during this raid is said to have earned Rs 15,000 on that particular day through her clients.

The provisions and procedures of the Vagrants' Ordinance say that any Sri Lankan could become a guardian of a child who turns 18 and take her away with her consent. The sad fact is that, these girls who are arrested, being guilty of various offences or are victims of sexual abuse and without parents or guardians are being forced back into criminal acts with the knowledge of certain State officials. The cartel of operatives, pretending to be legal guardians, had for all the obvious reasons, made use of this provision.

It would have been fortunate to know if this was the only such case that has occurred and will ever occur in our life time. Unfortunately, if that was so, that would be a lie. The truth is that girls are sold for sex across the country every passing hour by various methods and this happens to be only one such incident. Girls are sold to the thriving sex industry which operates under the guise of spas, supplying home servants and cleaners. In the circles of social elites, girls are bought from humble beginnings, trained in formalities, primed and propped for their high class clients who look for girlfriends for just one night.

Girls who are taken from probation homes are the main source of supply for the sex industry and that is nothing new. The only difference is that the general public has started talking about it without pretending to ignore it as if it never happened.

This is a clear call for massive legislative amendments to the current provisions that are being blatantly abused for the financial and perverted needs and pleasures of this criminal cartel behind the sex industry of the country. This society which looks cross-eyed at the sex workers of the country should not keep their mouths shut and silenced in this matter. These sex workers, undoubtedly, went through the same process to be facing the current plight they are facing now. After all, none goes willingly into the mouth of this industry; they are forced to. They are but mere victims.

Politicians, legislators and social activists of this country have an obvious tendency to exploit opportunities of rape cases and sexual abuse. The lack of such uproar in these matters is an apparent show of their sadistic and sociopathic narrow-mindedness; we, as the god fearing and moral loving majority of the general populace, will continue to criticize without rest.

We ask where the soidisant Attorneys-at-Law who ran amok with Dunesh Priyashantha alias Kondaya who claimed that he was a victim of police torture and brutality. We inquire as to the whereabouts of the legislators and the many politicians who called for legalization of prostitution. More so, where are the women's rights activists who take to the streets following each and every rape case that becomes notorious? Are girls who are groomed to be sex workers, under the convenient negligence of the State, not worthy of their attention?

Isn't this time for some action?

Daily Mirror Editorial

Invest for tomorrow, invest in children

Friday 20th November 2015

Today is Universal Children’s Day. Going beyond words, it means a recommitment by all governments to the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child -- the right to life, to health, to education and to play, the right to family life, to be protected from violence, not be discriminated and to have their views heard.

On December 14, 1954, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution recommending that all countries should mark a Universal Children’s Day, to be observed as a day of worldwide fraternity and understanding among children and activity devoted to promoting the ideals and objectives of the Charter and the welfare of the children of the world. November 20 marks the day on which the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. This convention is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty.

UN  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a message that what all children have in common are their rights. Every child has the right to live and thrive, to be educated, to be free from violence and abuse, to participate and to be heard.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Sri Lanka branch in a message says, it deplores any form of violence against children including sexual abuse, harassment, rape and sexual exploitation in prostitution or pornography. All children have rights and need to be protected from violence so that they can grow up to be healthy citizens.

UNICEF says while there has been a rise in reported incidents of sexual violence, its not clear whether this is a result of better monitoring and reporting or because of an actual surge in incidents. Credible evidence is needed to understand the depth of the crisis and will help to prevent, respond to and protect the child victims.

UNICEF says creating a protective environment for vulnerable children requires the active engagement of authorities, government institutions, social service providers, NGO’s, community and family. They could work together to help in the prevention and response to violence against children.

The UNICEF sponsored campaign on a ‘Violence Free Society for Children’ seeks to break the culture of silence and prevent child abuse. Several activities will be conducted across the most vulnerable and high risk districts in the country to build awareness on violence against children and child abuse in communities, schools, homes and among politicians and to develop the capacity of the child protection system to better identify and effectively respond to victims of violence and abuse.

The ‘Violence Free Society for Children’ campaign will help build capacity of the protection system through training of government staff, who work with families and children, to identify and follow-up cases of violence, equip children with the skills needed to protect themselves, raise public awareness and advocacy among parliamentarians to increase the state resource allocation for child protection, policy, legal reforms and awareness raising work, UNICEF says. 

If you really love children and if you see signs of sexual or physical abuse of children, the illegal employment of children and other offences, please break the culture of silence. Decide to do it today on Universal Children’s Day. You could phone 1929.

On a broader long term scale the National Unity Government in its economic policy strategy outlined on November 5 and the 2016 budget presented today will give priority to education, unpolluted food and nutrition for children. The 2016 budgetary allocation for education is to be increased fourfold and we hope the proper implementation of this vision and mission will lay the foundation for a knowledge-based economy whereby well educated, healthy children could walk and work with the fullness of human dignity.